Round Up: Latin Fury 14 - Margarito Dominates Garcia

Detail: Margarito's nickname may be "The Tijuana Tornado," but against Garcia, he looked more like "El Matador." The former three-time world champ worked the hard-charging Garcia with a combination of poise and grace -- two adjectives not normally associated with the brawler the world has seen in many a bloody contest. It was a style that fit the bull ring in which the two men fought and prompted this writer to wonder aloud: "Man, I didn't know Margarito could move like that!"

From Jump Street, it was all Margarito. He dropped Garcia with a clean right to the chin early in the first. Although Garcia got up with little trouble (Garcia often seemed more concerned with showing he could take punishment than give it, laughing off several hard shots by Margarito without returning them in kind), the knock down signaled more bad news was on its way. By the later rounds, Margarito was taunting a frustrated Garcia by winding up his arms Bernard Hopkins-style -- moves designed to show Garcia he was out of his depth. He was.

That said, Garcia deserves credit for coming out to fight. (The native Texan made a pretty good showing in Round 3.) He proved a game opponent for Margarito, who needed to not only score a convincing victory, but to do so against a worthy adversary. Check both of those boxes. Margarito has a reputation for training hard, and it showed in this fight. He threw punch after punch while circling the ring without any visible signs of fatigue. (One suspects he could have easily gone another two rounds in much the same fashion.)

Bottom line: Margarito turned in the kind of dominating win his new trainer Robert Garcia knew his fighter had to deliver after a year spent on the bench. The judges scored it 99 - 89, 100 - 88, and 99 - 90.

Detail: This was a crowd-pleaser on paper and in practice. Solis is from Mexico -- a fact not lost on the crowd, which periodically erupted into chants of "Mexico" -- and both he and his opponent, the Puerto Rican Santiago, came to fight. But by the middle rounds, Solis had established a near-unbeatable rhythm, working Santiago from head to torso, with only the occasional, if effective, counter from Santiago. In Round 8, Santiago showed some spunk, but by Round 9 Solis was in full domination mode. Santiago looked worn by the punishment, while Solis drove forward with only sporadic resistance. To be sure, Santiago had his moments, but they were too few and far between. Unsurprisingly, Solis took home the belt, with the judges scoring it 118 - 109, 118 - 109, and 119 - 108.

A breakdown of the two Margarito-Garcia undercard bouts that were available free of charge at www.TopRank/TRlivestream. Check Top Rank's Twitter and Facebook pages for details on the next livestream.

Detail: Rising Filipino star Farenas lost a tough, physical fight to Nicaraguan Aguilar, who proved too much in the later rounds. Although his corner repeatedly implored him to throw combinations -- especially double jabs -- Farenas was unable to get enough together to win.

Detail: It didn't last long. Towering over his opponent, the 17-year-old Benavidez quickly backed Pacheco into the corner, where the smaller man could do little more than duck and cover. Needless to say, it wasn't a winning strategy: The Freddie Roach-trained Benavidez caught Pacheco with several hard shots, including a left hook to the rib cage that sent Pacheco gasping for air. Another decisive, first-round victory for the up-and-coming Phoenix native.